I Can't Get Enough of the Harlem Shake

By Stephen Markley

I’ll admit it, and I don’t care who knows it: I’m digging the everloving shit out of these Harlem Shake videos.

That’s right, I said it. It’s the greatest music/video fad of the decade. I can’t get enough. Every new one that pops up seems funnier, wittier, sharper and more awesome than the last. They’re fantastic. I’ve watched the Miami Heat one like 40 times.

Mario Chalmers dressed as Nintendo’s Mario! Classic.

No, I’m not joking. I’m entirely serious, and to prove it, I’ll say that I usually hate these things. I was the guy in middle school who refused to even touch the Macarena. I think the Electric Slide should have been stood up against a wall and shot. If anyone ever again sends me a video of a dog or a cat doing something amusing on YouTube, I’m going to send them a dead puppy in the mail. Normally, I can’t stand any of this stuff that becomes popular or goes viral, whether it’s a dance, a song, a video, or as in this case, a dance/song/video combination. I tell you this only to establish my bona fides as a too-cool-for-school cynic.

But the Harlem Shake? Hell, I’m dancing in the shower as I write this. I’ve spent the last three weeks watching compilation after compilation. Asian kid, joined by his aging Asian grandparents? Love it. High school lunchroom with jocks doing push-ups? Gimme more. A little kid thrusting his pelvis while a bunch of other little kids sit around looking bored in a classroom? I’d pay you money.

I’m boldly proclaiming my love of the Harlem Shake only because I’m on a listserv with a bunch of my closest Chicago friends, and an e-mail war broke out over the topic of whether or not we should do a Harlem Shake video (by “war” I mean like seven to twelve e-mails). When I suggested we do a video, my friends replied with the following:

Anonymous Friend: “Goddamnit, Steve.”

Anonymous Friend: “Steve, I think I let a lot of things slide because you’re from Ohio, but this is inexcusable.”

Anonymous Friend: “Write a column about how your friends had enough taste to shut down your bad, month-late idea.”

Anonymous Friend: “We now have documented evidence of the moment we all became old and irrelevant.”

But screw those guys and the joyless horses upon which they ride. Some things get old fast? Yeah, so do the people who say things get old fast! I'm over them! I’ll be a part of a Harlem Shake video, and I don’t care if it’s at my granddaughter’s goddamn wedding in 2064. That shit is great. In the meantime feel free to tweet me your favorite Harlem Shake videos. I’ll send them to the listserv.